Marias Pass
Marias Pass is occasionally seen in the Rails of Highland Valley series. Bio The Marias Pass route is located in western Montana. It runs from Shelby, MT all the way west to Whitefish, MT over the Marias Pass Summit. The route is owned by BNSF (formerly BN), and has more than 50 trains using that route every day. The Amtrak Empire Builder also uses this route everyday as part of its Chicago-Portland/Seattle journey. Notable Locations Going west, the route starts at Shelby, MT, which has a grain elevator and several industrials, as well as an Amtrak station. It also has a line running to Nainsmith, MT, and one running to Sweetgrass, MT. The yard used to have an intermodal terminal, but it closed in 2009. Ethridge, MT is between Shelby and Cutbank, which has a grain elevator. Cut Bank is the next yard along the route, which has some grain elevators and an Amtrak station. There is also a large trestle that crosses Cut Bank Creek. West of Cut Bank, the line goes by Sundance, the Pardue grain elevator, the grain elevator at Meriwether, and by a small yard at Blackfoot. After Blackfoot, the line becomes single track for some of the way up to Browning. Browning has an Amtrak station that only operates between October and April. Leaving Browning, the line goes by Spotted Robe and over the Two Medicine River viaduct. East Glacier Park, MT is next station along the route, which has several sidings and an Amtrak station that only operates between April and October. West of East Glacier is where the line starts to climb the mountains into the Continental Divide. After the summit, it starts to go downhill by Marias, Blacktail, and Java, through several snow sheds, and over Java Creek and Sheep Creek until reaching Essex. Essex has a rail yard with helper engine facilities, as well as the famous Izaak Walton Inn. There is also an Amtrak station here, which is used as a flag stop. Not far west of Essex, the line merges into single track at Pinnacle, crosses over Paola Creek, and goes back to double track at Paola where it runs over Stanton Creek shortly after. The double track continues through Red Eagle and up to Nyack Junction. The next Amtrak station west of Essex is Belton, also known as West Glacier Park. After Belton, the route is mostly single track until reaching Coram, and soon after, Conkelley. Over here is the former CFAC (Columbia Falls Aluminum Company) yard, which handled aluminum products until the plant shut down in 2009. Not far west of here is Columbia Falls, where the lines splits at the rail yard. The Kalispell branch line goes south toward Kalispell, MT, which has various industries as well as Glacier Park International Airport, while the mainline continues west toward Whitefish. Whitefish, MT is the westernmost point of the Marias Pass route. It has a large rail yard, an Amtrak station, and an engine facility. Appearances Episodes * The Haunting from Canada * Clean Operation * Pet Sitter * Track Fever Shorts * Cameron Tricks His Friends * Jared Screws Up Twice * Behind the Screens Specials * Run to Revenge * Engines vs. Zombies Trivia * Until 2020, only Shelby and Cut Bank could be shown in this series, as the Marias Pass route for Trainz 2010 only includes those two locations. The full version of the Marias Pass is built in to Trainz Driver Edition, and can be purchased as payware for newer versions via HP Trainz. Since the creator got the full version working in Trainz 2012, he can now show any location. Category:BNSF Category:Rail Lines Category:Burlington Northern